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Welcome to the blog of the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences at the University of Northampton. This will keep you up to date with both student and staff activities.

The Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences includes staff with interests in biological sciences, conservation, ecology, environmental sciences, environmental statistics, geography and waste management. We offer a range of degree programmes and have a number of postgraduate research students. For more information about studying with us please visit http://www.northampton.ac.uk/.

Monday, 4 July 2016

What does Brexit mean for British biodiversity?

Friday 24th June 2016. What a surreal day. I spent it trying to
understand why a small majority of the voting public had committed us
to leaving the European Union, an organisation that has had a
demonstrably positive impact upon our lives, our society, our economy,
and our environment. That dream-like state was not helped by the fact
that I’d stayed up most of the night with my youngest son James,
watching the results roll in.

Saturday 25th June 2016. Twenty four hours later, after a good
night’s sleep, I feel less dislocated but no less confused and
disappointed. It is what it is, let’s get on with it.

It’s much too early to properly answer the question of what this all
means for British biodiversity, of course. But as I pointed out in my
post about the environmental arguments for remaining in the EU,
there’s a whole raft of policies, legislation, agreements and
initiatives that the government and NGOs need to consider. Just to give
a couple of examples, what will happen to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, or the Special Protected Area status of places such as the Upper Nene Valley?

What I really hope is that we can continue as before, building on the
current situation rather than tearing up the whole thing. To some
extent I’m optimistic that we can for the near future, because the
government will have (as it sees it) bigger things to worry about. But I
do worry that eventually we will get left behind as EU environmental
legislation evolves. That’s something we have to be mindful of in the
coming years.

The ecological internet is already starting to discuss these issues; here are links to a few pieces that I’ve seen:

The Wildlife Trusts are trying to look positively at the future,
with Brian Eversham, Chief Executive for the Wildlife Trust for
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, summing it up very
well: “Many of those who disagreed over the Referendum agree strongly
that wildlife, our countryside and the natural environment matter, now
and for the future. We need their voices loud and clear in the coming
months. As we are now responsible for our own, independent future, it is
up to all of us to make sure that we keep the environment firmly on the
national agenda.”

No doubt there will be more coming soon and I’ll try to provide updates on the blog.

In terms of my day job as an academic at the University of
Northampton, things will also change across the whole British Higher
Education sector, of course. On one level that’s a different set of
issues to what I’ve been discussing, but there are also links: a great
deal of ecological research activity is being funded by the European
Union and involves cross-border collaborations. Scientists across
Europe have to continue to make that work.